The Linux desktop has come a long way. It's a fully usable, stable, and secure operating system that can be used quite easily by the masses. Not too long ago, Sun figured they could do the same by starting Project Indiana, which is supposed to deliver a complete distribution of OpenSolaris in a manner similar to GNU/Linux. After using the latest version for a while, I'm wondering: why?

All of the lower level stuff like management frameworks and subsystems definitely matter. A bad kernel is going to result in a slow and/or buggy system overall. However, the kernel is not what users see. Your truly average desktop user doesn't even know what a kernel is. The average linux user might, but even then, what they generally care about is the applications. The kernel and all of the low level packages on a system are things that the user generally just wants to want and not care about. The more techy and geeky a user is, the more they're going to care about it and whatever nice features it may have, but they low level stuff isn't really what the user sees and cares about.

So, while the low level stuff is very important, it's not what users generally care about. What they care about are the desktop applications that they directly use. So, to the average user, management subsystems don't matter - as long as they work well enough not to cause them any problems anyway.

And if OpenSolaris is using the same desktop and applications as a linux distro, then it's as good as another linux distro to most people. There are plenty of people who care about things like ZFS and the various cool features in OpenSolaris stuff, but the average user really isn't going to.

So, while the low level stuff is very important, it's not what users generally care about. What they care about are the desktop applications that they directly use. So, to the average user, management subsystems don't matter - as long as they work well enough not to cause them any problems anyway.

Your point is valid, but does not coutner what I said at all

In particular, my point was that the underlying management framework and kernel can have a drastic effect on applications and the desktop.

For example, the new audio subsystem in builds 117+ provides fully virtualized audio allowing multiple applications to use the sound device at the same time. While this was solved by sound servers, PuleAudio, etc. in the past, OpenSolaris has a fully native implementation. It should be obvious why users indirectly care about this.

And if OpenSolaris is using the same desktop and applications as a linux distro, then it's as good as another linux distro to most people. There are plenty of people who care about things like ZFS and the various cool features in OpenSolaris stuff, but the average user really isn't going to.

Except it isn't, because OpenSolaris fully integrates additional OS-specific functionality into the "same desktop and applications." For example, because of zfs, GNOME Nautilus has a time slider feature that is not present on GNU/Linux distributions.

So again, the underlying technology matters when it comes to OpenSolaris. Many of its technologies can have a fundamental effect on applications and how they are used.

Except it isn't, because OpenSolaris fully integrates additional OS-specific functionality into the "same desktop and applications." For example, because of zfs, GNOME Nautilus has a time slider feature that is not present on GNU/Linux distributions.

Would you mind providing other examples for OpenSolaris features directly included in the GNOME ui, except for Time Slider? This is one of the main complaints I (still?) have to make about it - there's next to nothing on the desktop which is "unique OpenSolaris"... except for Time Slider, maybe, which also just recently has been included...
K.